There are numerous steps involving significant intervention in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. The goal is to combine in a single variety an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. These traits may include, but are not limited to, higher seed yield, resistance to diseases and/or insects, tolerance to drought and/or heat, altered milling properties, abiotic stress tolerance, improvements in compositional traits, and better agronomic characteristics.
Wheat is grown worldwide and is the most widely adapted cereal. There are five main wheat market classes. They include the four common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) classes: hard red winter, hard red spring, soft red winter, and white (hard and soft). The fifth class is durum (Triticum turgidum L.). Common wheats are used in a variety of food products such as bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, and noodles. In general the hard wheat classes are milled into flour used for breads and the soft wheat classes are milled into flour used for pastries and crackers. Wheat starch is also used in the paper industries, as laundry starches, and in other products.